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Where is the new CSIRO Enterprise Agreement?

The new CSIRO Enterprise Agreement has not yet materialised, despite the conclusion of the all staff vote some four weeks ago.

“We had hoped that the final approval process would be completed in a timely fashion and that CSIRO staff would receive the new agreement – and a long overdue pay increase – by this stage,” Staff Association Secretary Sam Popovski said.

UPDATE

CSIRO Executive have confirmed the delay at the Fair Work Commission in an email to staff. On Tuesday 25 July, FWC wrote to CSIRO and bargaining representatives stating that ‘whilst (FWC) cannot provide a specific approval date, it is anticipated that the agreement will be allocated to a Commission member this week.’

‘Following the review of the application by a Commission member, (FWC) will be in contact to update the parties with respect to a timeframe for approval.’

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“While CSIRO Executive submitted the new agreement to the Fair Work Commission, there appears to have been no communication to staff on the progress of the approval or any explanation for the delay,” Mr Popovski said.

Management’s second enterprise agreement offer was approved by a vote of 58 per cent with 77 per cent of eligible CSIRO staff participating in the ballot, the results of which were announced 23 June.

It was then lodged at the Fair Work Commission for the approval process to commence on 29 June.

The Fair Work Act states that ‘the application must be lodged with the Commission within 14 days of the agreement being made or within such further period as the Commission allows.’

In addition to a series of legal and technical requirements ‘before approving an enterprise agreement, the Commission must ensure the agreement passes the better off overall test.’

‘This test requires that each of the employees to be covered by the agreement are better off overall than under the relevant modern award.’

Mr Popovski said that it was unclear what the cause of the significant delay was.

“CSIRO Executive is responsible for lodging the application for the approval of the Enterprise Agreement with the Fair Work Commission.

“Other agreements such as at ANSTO were approved within a fortnight earlier this year. Given CSIRO staff have not received a pay increase in more than three years, this additional delay is extremely frustrating.

“We urge CSIRO Executive to do all it can to help finalise the Enterprise Agreement as soon as possible,” Mr Popovski said.

It appears it could be up to a year (or more?) before it is approved. In June 2017 alone, CSIRO was amongst over 200 organisations who submitted but are still waiting approval. Overall there are hundreds of applications still waiting in the queue with submission dates going back to June 2016. This is appalling.

Nevermind. I’m sure Larry will happily donate a small portion of his total remuneration last year of $845,508 to make up the 3% the company won’t have to, and hasn’t had to, pay since this charade started. Work it out yourselves -> 5078 employees with an average wage of (conservatively) $80 000 denied a 3% increase saves you 12.19 million dollars per year or just shy of half a million dollars per pay period. Not bad for the bottom line – especially if you can stall and obfuscate for the better part of 3 years. But of course it’s never been about the money, has it?